Powder Mountain and snowbird - 3/25 - 3/30

To say the 2015-2016 season was underwhelming in the northeast would be an understatement.  My family has deemed it as “the winter that wasn’t”.  Despite the lack of snow, we got over 30 days in at Gore and they did a great job making snow when they could and subsequently pushing it around where and when needed.

Last March, I had the opportunity to extend a work trip in Utah into two days of skiing at Powder Mountain and Snowbasin.  My coworker here in NJ bought a beautiful home near Moose Hollow a few years ago, down the hill from Powder. He was working remotely from there when I came out to stay with him last year.  Needless to say, I fell in love with Powder Mountain even though it was deemed a bad snow year.

Fast forward to this winter and my wife and I decided to take my coworker up on his offer and stay at his place over Easter break. We had two days lined up for Powder, one day for Snowbird and the last day was free to go to wherever.  This would be the first time our 9 year old son would be skiing out west.  He has become a strong east coast skier by participating in Gore’s season long program over the past several years and we even had him ski in 24+” of snow during that  Snowridge Saturday  before Christmas (see Harvey’s blog from earlier this year on that epic adventure).      

We flew out of EWR on Good Friday on a plane packed with other skiers from NY and NJ who were ready to experience the El Nino winter first hand.  Let me preface this by describing the week leading up to our flight. Powder got 16” three days before Good Friday, so I was scrambling to find a fatter ski for my wife.  We ended up calling Eric at Telemarkdown.com who was kind enough to mount up a Rotafella 2nd ski kit on a pair of 2015 Liberty Envys, 105mm underfoot.   We got them from the CT store the next day.  Thanks Eric!  

The first two days at Powder were Bluebird, but the snow was baked.  Unbeknownst to me, the days after the Tuesday storm were very warm and then everything would freeze at night.  We skied every condition imaginable from ice to breakable crust to mank to windpack to virgin powder still lingering in the most northernmost slopes.  When I was skiing at Powder last year, I discovered a north-facing steep section of Paradise lift that had two chutes that opened up to a great pitch.  Think “Lies” with 8” of great unbaked snow.  To my surprise, no one skied it before we got there post-storm so we lapped it both days.  We also took our boy up Lightning Ridge and rode the CAT.  He loved the adventure and we again, found great snow in the evergreens.  Lastly, our locker mate from Gore Larry and his family were coincidently out at Powder the same days and we skied a few runs with them and had dinner at Luis’s, highly recommended if you like great eclectic Mexican cuisine.







On Monday, things changed as a storm was developing.  The forecast was snow through Wednesday.  We drove from Eden to Snowbird and my son could barely contain himself, as everything he read was that this mountain was one of the more inherently challenging ski resorts in the country.  Up there with the likes of Jackson, Crested Butte, Taos, etc.  Needless to say, it didn’t disappoint.  By the time we got up the tram, 5” had fallen on top.  The conditions were full whiteout, so we headed for the trees.  This place had some of the steepest, sickest terrain I’ve ever skied and my son was eating it up.  He always gets jazzed with The Rumor, so this place was like a double diamond playground.   I think having to go through the access gates was also stoking his ego.  

We did get into trouble one time when we  headed to a series of cliffs that I blew off as a suggestion.  This time they meant business and we had to do some pretty knarly tactics to get through the tight confines.  I guess 3 separate cliff signs should be taken seriously.  We ended up doing the Peruvian tunnel to Mineral Basin and that was cool.  Mineral Basin itself was in a whiteout, so it was hard to ski.  Needleless to say our son left it all on the mountain.  He passed out at lunch (cheeto on his chest) and then was totally out when we drove home.  A good day!













Tuesday was our wildcard day and wouldn’t you know it, Powder Mountain was our choice again. This time, we were able to get last minute Liftopia tickets for ½ price, so sorry Snowbasin, maybe another time...

Tuesday was also our 19th wedding anniversary and they got 19” of snow that AM.  Pretty corny, right?  All told, they got 24” out of the storm from the day before.  After a 45 minute avalanche hold, we got 5th chair on paradise lift, as most of the non-locals went straight to Timberline lift.  Let me tell you, skiing 24” of fresh is really amazing.  Our son had trouble at first (110cm kid skis, 50mm under foot), but he got real aggressive and managed to figure it out.  He is truly an all mountain skier now.  

Needless to say it was an epic day.  The only problem was that the snow got heavier as the sun came out.  My wife summed it up the best.  “It skied liked whip cream frosting in the AM and cream cheese frosting in the PM”.  We were shot, we could no longer make a tele turn and we went to the powder Keg for a well deserved beer (the boy got sprite, don’t start calling Child Services).  



The above photo is us waiting on avie hold...







In the end, it was a fantastic trip.  I know our son will remember it for as long as he lives and we’re proud parents knowing we have added some new tools in our son’s skiing toolbelt.   I don’t think I’ll make it an annual event and I know he wants to go to Colorado next.  I personally say Jackson or BC, but who knows?  Probably no plane rides for a few years till he can get on some real skis.  All in all, a great way to end the “season that wasn’t” in the east.  

Great trip.  Thanks for sharing

Next time get you son a fatter ski too.

We were at Powder the week before (17th) and got some fresh snow...not as much as you but it was our first time there and the place is awesome.

Great photos looks like you hit it just right with the storm timing.

24" + 19" damn that's a serious dump.

Wow what a great TR!  Stoked for your fam!  Sounds like your boy is a ripper.

Thanks for the comments.  Looking back at it now nearly a week later, it was a trip of a lifetime with the Monday-Tuesday snow we got last week.  Just to set the record straight, the two day total at Powder was 24" all up (5" and 19" respectfully).  Nonetheless, more snow than I've skied sans Snowridge before X-Mas this year and that includes 5+ years living in Colorado.  Now on to warm weather sports....    

looks like some wholesome fun

telerider wrote

Save that pic - near perfect form.
I see a little racer in your future.

FANtastic TR. So glad you guys hit the timing right. Did you get into powder country at all? You picked my two favorite places out there. We considered hitting snowbasin this year, but like you we decided to go to powmow instead.

I've been to snowbird probably 10 times and it seems almost every time we get hit with one of those whiteouts. It is really tough if you are in mineral basin or the bowl to lookers right of the tram. Vertigo big time.

For anyone else looking to do powder, there are a bunch of new homes that have been built at the summit that are ski in ski out. You do have to get a snowmobile ride in when you first arrive. There are some great deals for them if you check vrbo/airbnb, etc.

"In the end, it was a fantastic trip.  I know our son will remember it for as long as he lives and we’re proud parents knowing we have added some new tools in our son’s skiing toolbelt. "


You can for sure say that again. You son will be ripping everything at Gore, thinking its easy.  Next year - we head out West.  Though knowing my luck, it will like here this year....

Wonderful photos and man, I would love to see some video.

SkiRay

Looks like you nailed it. Well done.

These western trip reports are killing me this year. Especially the ones from the exact time period I would have headed out there if I didn't have to go to f@&$ing Breckenridge in f!%#ing mid April.

These type of trip reports are the best!  Western skiing with great snow and the kids - doesn't get any better.  Glad that PowMow delivered the goods - seems to be the new favorite this year (me included...hit untracked powder in Feb.).  Ditto with Snowbird - awesome but hitting perfect conditions there is as hard as seeing a unicorn it seems.

Had a similar experience with my kids in New Mexico many years ago.  Only downside was once they got a taste of the good stuff they kind of lost interest in eastern skiing!

Here is the first of our videos, shot from my son's helmet POV.  It features PowMow before the storm.  The 2nd half of the video is of this chute/runout on the north side of Padadise lift that never gets baked b/c it faces north.  Fresh lines each time we hit it.  More videos to come when we can find the time to go through and edit all the video we shot.   We decided to pay homage to Iron Maiden due to their current US tour as background music.  

<nabble_embed></nabble_embed>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmuoOexQN54&feature=em-upload_owner#action=share

Never been to PowMow, needs to moved to the top of my list..

Every vid is better with Maiden as the music bed...